The present invention relates to a weather strip for vehicles. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a weather strip that is attached to a vehicle with double sided adhesive tape and includes a first section made of rubber and a second section made of thermoplastic elastomer.
Typically, vehicles have weather strips attached to the edges of doors, the periphery of a door opening of the vehicle body, window frames and the like. A weather strip seals the clearance between a component, such as a door, and the vehicle body. Linear portions of weather strips are generally formed by extrusion molding. On the other hand, curved portions that correspond to corners of doors and end portions of the weather strip are typically made of rubber material and are typically formed by injection molding using a metal mold (for example, Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 1-168346 and Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 2-26934). Generally, such a weather strip is attached to a vehicle by using a double sided adhesive tape made of resin.
FIG. 11 is a perspective view illustrating a part of a weather strip 71 used a vehicle hood door. The weather strip 71 includes a linear first section 72 and a second section 73. The second section 73 functions as a curved portion and/or an end portion of the weather strip, which cannot be extruded. The first and second sections 72 and 73 include first and second bases 710, and 711 respectively. Double sided adhesive tapes 74a and 74b are attached to the top surface of the bases 710, 711. The weather strip 71 is bonded to the underside of the vehicle hood door by the tapes 74a, 74b.
The first double sided adhesive tape 74a is adhered to the top surface of the base 710 of the first section 72 except for at part A. The second double sided adhesive tape 74b is adhered to the entire top surface of the second section 73 and to the part A of the first section 72. When the hood door is shut, first and second seal lips 712 and 713 of the weather strip 71 contact the body side member of the vehicle near a front bumper and are flexed between the hood door and the body thereby sealing the inner space of the hood door.
When manufacturing the above described weather strip 71, ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (EPDM) solid rubber is extruded and vulcanized to form the first section 72. Thereafter, the double sided adhesive tape 74a is applied on the top surface except for the part A. The first section 72 is then fitted in a metal mold. The mold forms the second section 73, which is attached to the first section 72. The second section 73 is generally made of the same rubber material as the first section 72 (unvulcanized EPDM solid rubber).
The unvulcanized EPDM is injected into the metal mold, which is heated to 180 to 220.degree. C., and vulcanized. The vulcanized EDPM is then cooled to form the weather strip 71, which includes the integrated first and second sections 72, 73. The double sided adhesive tape 74b is then adhered to the second section 73, which is located at the end of the weather strip 71.
The mold that forms second section 73 reaches high temperatures, because the second section 73 formed from rubber should be vulcanized. Therefore, if the resin adhesive tape 74a is attached to the part A, which is next to the second section 73, the tape segment 74a may be damaged or stick to the mold by the high temperature of the mold. Therefore the double sided adhesive tape segment 74a is not attached to the part A. Instead, after forming the second section 73, the tape segment 74b is attached to the part A as well as to the second section 73. This process requires two steps for applying the double sided adhesive tape segments (74a and 74b) on the weather strip 71. This complicates the manufacturing of the weather strip 71 and reduces the manufacturing efficiency.
Further, applying the tape segments 74a, 74b at different times may create a wide gap between the tapes 74a and 74b or cause the tape segments 74a and 74b to overlap each other.